Horizontal articulated robot

Abstract

A horizontal articulated robot has a plurality of horizontal arms coupled by joint shafts, and a working shaft disposed at the extreme end of an extreme end arm among the horizontal arms has mounting portions of an end effector formed to both the upper and lower ends thereof. With this arrangement, there can be provided a horizontal articulated robot that can cope with various work transport forms and various types of works by one type of a robot by selectively using the upper and lower sides of a working shaft.

Description

[0001] The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-363919, filed Dec. 16, 2004, is expressly incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to an horizontal articulated robot, and more particularly, to a structure of mounting portions of an end effector mounted at the extreme end of a robot arm. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Horizontal articulated robots, which are also called scalar robots, are excellent particularly in compactness and workability and often used in industrial robots. The horizontal articulated robot has such a structure that ordinarily, first and second arms turn each in a respective horizontal plane through first and second joint shafts, respectively and an end effector such as a hand and the like is mounted on a working shaft attached to the extreme end of the second arm to thereby cause the end effector to execute a desired job such as an asse...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] In the horizontal articulated robot of the present invention, the mounting portions of the end effector are disposed to both the upper and lower ends of the working shaft disposed at the extreme end of the extreme end arm. Thus, when the end effector is mounted on the upper side of the extreme end arm, the robot can be applied to a job for transferring a work such as a wafer, a glass substrate, and the like, whereas when the end effector is mounted on the lower side of the extreme end arm, the robot can be applied to an ordinary job for assembly, transport, and the like of parts. Accordingly, various work transport forms and various types of works can be coped with by disposing only one type of the robot, thereby a compact and economical robot system can be constructed.

[0017] When the end effector makes use of fluid pressure, fluid supply piping is caused to pass through the inside of the hollow rotary shaft likewise the case of the electric wiring or airtightly connected to the mounting portion opposite to the mounting portion of the end effector. With this arrangement, an advantage similar to that of the electric wiring can be obtained.

[0018] Further, according to the present invention, the mounting portion of the end effector may be composed of a flange coupling means or an instant mounting / dismounting type coupling means. More specifically, the mounting portion of the end effector is composed of a flange joint composed of a plurality of screws or bolts or is of an instant mounting / dismounting type that employs screw coupling and the like. The former is advantageous in that a height can be reduced, and the latter is advantageous in that mounting and dismounting can be executed simply in a short time.

Problems solved by technology

Further, in a robot having such a structure that wiring or piping ducts of a drive unit for driving an end effector, a working shaft, and the like are exposed in the periphery of arms, the robot is bad in an outside appearance as well as the layout of the wiring or piping ducts must be determined such that the motion of the arms is not restricted by the ducts and that the ducts do not interfere with an external object and the like.

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